By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA—Counsel to detained former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, retd, Mr. Ahmed Raji, SAN, has refuted a claim by the Federal Government that his client rejected permission granted to him to attend his late father’s burial held in Sokoto on Tuesday.

Raji, SAN, said his client never mentioned such offer to any of the lawyers in his defence team.

“As his counsel, we are not aware of that. Our client has not told us anything of that nature and it would have been expected that if such a gesture was going to be made to him, we, as counsel, should have been informed so that we could advise him better.

Former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki,rtd

“As I am speaking with you I am hearing about this for the first time. We are not aware of this and our client has not confirmed that the Federal Government extended such gesture to him,” Raji stated.

The lawyer spoke to journalists shortly after Justice Baba Yusuf of the High Court, Federal Capital Territory in Maitama, fixed  December 7  for continuation of Dasuki’s trial.

The Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau, (retd), had on Tuesday, alleged that Dasuki who has been in detention since November 3, 2015, not only declined an offer to visit his late father, Ibrahim Dasuki while he was in an hospital in Abuja, but also refused to travel to Sokoto to participate in the burial rites.

While refuting the claim, Raji, SAN, further maintained that there was no basis for Dasuki’s continued detention, having been granted bail by three different high courts where he was arraigned.

He stressed that it ought to have since complied with the order of the ECOWAS court for his unconditional release.